- “A Future for the World’s Children” 2020 is a report released jointly by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Lancet Commission. The report tries to find the status of health and future of each child across the world due to threat from ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practises that push heavily processed fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco at children.
- The report has been prepared by more than 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world. The report also includes a global index covering 180 countries prepared by comparing Child flourishing and Sustainability index.
Key Findings-
- According to the “A Future for the World’s Children” 2020 report, no country out of 180 countries is able to protect children’s health and future adequately.
- The report includes two indexes as mentioned above- Child Flourishing Index and Sustainability Index.
- The Child Flourishing Index has been prepared on the indicators like survival, health, education and nutrition.
- Sustainability index has been prepared by checking the per capita carbon emissions of the countries.
- Norway tops the Child Flourishing Index and the Central African Republic has been placed at the bottom in the index.
- The report highlights that children in some countries see as many as 30,000 advertisements related to junk food, sugary beverages and also tobacco on TV in a single year.
- Burundi has topped the sustainability index and Qatar is the bottom-most country on the index.
- As per the report, poor countries should support their children’s ability to live healthy lives as excessive carbon emissions affect the future of all children.
- Only countries 9 countries namely- Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam are on track to beat CO2 emission per capita targets by 2030. These countries have also performed fairly (within the top 70) on child flourishing measures.
- The leading countries in Flourishing index- Norway, Republic of Korea and Netherlands lag behind in sustainability index and are placed 156th, 166th and 160th respectively.
Top 10 and Bottom 10 Countries for Child Flourishing
| Country | Rank | Country | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 1 | Afghanistan | 171 |
| Republic of Korea | 2 | Sierra Leone | 172 |
| Netherlands | 3 | South Sudan | 173 |
| France | 4 | Nigeria | 174 |
| Ireland | 5 | Guinea | 175 |
| Denmark | 6 | Mali | 176 |
| Japan | 7 | Niger | 177 |
| Belgium | 8 | Somalia | 178 |
| Iceland | 9 | Chad | 179 |
| United Kingdom | 10 | The central African Republic | 180 |
Top 10 and Bottom 10 Countries on Sustainability Index (index on per capita carbon emissions)
| Country | Rank | Country | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burundi | 1 | Luxemburg | 171 |
| Chad | 2 | Kazakhstan | 172 |
| Somalia | 3 | USA | 173 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 4 | Australia | 174 |
| Central African Republic | 5 | Saudi Arabia | 175 |
| Malawi | 6 | Bahrain | 176 |
| Rwanda | 7 | United Arab Emirates | 177 |
| Mali | 8 | Kuwait | 178 |
| Niger | 9 | Trinidad and Tobago | 179 |
| Madagascar | 10 | Qatar | 180 |
India Specific Findings-
- India has been ranked 131st on the Child Flourishing Index that has been prepared on survival, health, education and nutrition indicators. The score of India in terms of Flourishing is 0.44, on surviving is 0.45 and on thriving is 0.43.
- India has been ranked 77th on the sustainability index with 1.84 per capita carbon emissions.
Questions
Q1. Which country has topped the Child Flourishing Index under a report named “A Future for the World’s Children” 2020?- Norway
- South Korea
- Netherlands
- France
- Iceland
Explanation- Norway has topped the Child Flourishing Index that has been prepared on the basis of indicators like survival, health, education and nutrition.
